Organized Retail Crime (ORC) encompasses a multitude of theft and fraud schemes that occur in and through retail environments, negatively impacting commerce and undermining consumer and public safety. Many of these criminal enterprises finance and become a conduit for other criminal activity including violence, narcotics trafficking, and gang activity. However, the broader effects can be even more detrimental. Groups tied to ORC and related criminal activity have expanded across the Midwest and internationally. These groups have laundered millions of dollars abroad, some of which have financed terrorist and international crime syndicates.
In 2014, a group of dedicated law enforcement, crime analysts, corporate fraud and loss prevention investigators, and prosecutors created the Twin Cities Organized Retail Crime Association (TCORCA), 501c4 nonprofit corporation, as a private/public partnership to battle these criminal enterprises. The private sector, often victimized by these crimes, has provided their expertise and support, while law enforcement has increased their efforts to apply their investigative skills, tools, and legal authority to hold these criminals to account, working hand-in-hand with prosecutors to ensure best practices in enforcement and the building of cases.
Through this partnership, TCORCA seeks to provide the platform to improve the investigation and prosecution of ORC and related organized crime cases, maximize the retention and recovery of assets, centralize intelligence, combine resources, and make our businesses and neighborhoods safer and more profitable places to be.
These shared efforts have led to the First Annual Twin Cities Organized Retail Crime Association Training and Conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Minneapolis West in Plymouth, Minnesota on August 3-4, 2015.
Training Sessions will cover a wide spectrum of ORC-related topics with subject matter experts speaking from both the public and private sectors. Please join us in support of this event, and we look forward to seeing you there.